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By: Laura D. Field of Potpourri of Health & Reflective Tapestry of Life

What will it take for all physicians, as well as citizens, to become educated in the reality of Lyme disease and the impact that it has on so many lives? This is not a short-term disease.

WAKE up to all who have doubts. Lyme disease is real, it is here and it does not discriminate.

Physicians need to realize and accept their responsibility in the part of this disease. When something this serious is affecting so many, it is time to kick it up a notch in educating everyone. Arrogance will not heal. We are here to heal and to show compassion, not jeopardize the well being of human life. And yet, the best approach for many is to say “If you are still ill, then it is not Lyme”. That is the equivalent of telling any patient, with any disease, that their disease is not real, just because they have not returned to their former health.

All citizens need to accept, that what they do not understand, they can educate themselves vs. passing judgment and rejecting others. Too many human lives are being affected by people walking away from those they claim they love and care for.

No one, who suffers from long term, chronic lyme, wishes this upon themselves, nor on their worse enemy. They do not enjoy the variety of medical appointments in trying to “fix” what has become the new, unrelenting “normal” for their lives.

This disease is horrific, causing a long list of symptoms, affecting the ability to work and socialize in a manner in which they once enjoyed, while depleting their financial means to make ends meet. This is not a disease where patients are looking for attention, but rather looking for answers because they want to heal.

For most of us who suffer, we would much rather see the caring physicians who have stood by us, out socially at the theater, grocery store, park, hiking, running, etc., vs. returning continually to the clinics. I have fired physicians who gave up, yet have kept those who truly shared compassion and worked with me, along side my LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) as my health “care” providers/team. These physicians are the ones to whom I respect. They do not claim to have all the answers, yet rather choose to do their very best to make their patients feel that they are listened to, cared about, and to treat and heal (when possible) within their speciality.

My husband, my children and I, thank these amazing men who have not given up on me as a person. Lyme will never define me. It is simply a hurdle in life.